On this day in 1973, a final jet left the Tan Son Nhut airbase in South Vietnam, ending U.S. direct military involvement in the Vietnam War. The departure marked the end of nearly a decade of combat – and followed years of anti-war demonstrations and protests. (Bernie Boston)

Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turns 70. Liberal supporters sent thousands of roses to her office to celebrate her birthday. The speaker split the roses between the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and hill staffers to "thank them for all their hard work on the health reform legislation." (Flickr/ Speaker Pelosi )

Gabriel Arana on how the climate for immigration reform has changed since 2006: Last Sunday, 200,000 immigrant-rights protesters shared the National Mall with a tea-party crowd that shouted racial epithets and spat at members of Congress. Unsurprisingly, the media focused on the histrionics of the tea partiers, but Sunday's immigration demonstration was an important manifestation of the movement's building impatience. In its enthusiasm and optics -- legal and undocumented immigrants chanting "Sí se puede," singing folk songs, and waving both American and Mexican flags -- the demonstration was reminiscent of the immigration protests in 2006. Then, as now, immigration-rights advocates were banking on a president's campaign promise to reform the broken immigration system. But the parallel largely ends there. Without wanting to paint too rosy a picture of how the immigration-reform fight played out in 2006, at the very least it featured Republicans and Democrats coming together on...

Sens. Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham 's blueprint for immigration reform, published in a Washington Post op-ed today, does nothing but perpetuate the fundamental misunderstanding that has plagued our immigration policy for decades. Their goal is not to fix our broken immigration system but to solve the "problem" of illegal immigrants. The "four pillars" of their plan: Requiring biometric Social Security cards to ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs; fulfilling and strengthening our commitments on border security and interior enforcement; creating a process for admitting temporary workers; and implementing a tough but fair path to legalization for those already here. These proposals are each problematic. Biometric cards bring up all sorts of privacy issues -- and if the error-prone E-Verify system is any indication, database errors will be just as big of an inconvenience to citizens as they are to permanent residents. Border enforcement will also do little to stop people...